In the second paper, the authors used filters to differentiate texture and lighting from the original picture (section 5.3). Although it was clear that significant user input was required for the other features in the paper- it wasn't clear to me whether more user input was required in order use the filters.

Would the bi-lateral filter described be sufficient to handle all types of lighting and textures, or does it need to be tweaked for each picture?

Maybe there isn't an answer to this question. Or maybe it will be answered in future papers.